Erin Gruwell

Freedom Writers

A true account of a teacher who confronted a room of "at-risk" students details their life-changing journey and includes diary excerpts

How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

The Freedom Writers Diary

i was assigned this book during the fall semester in a class geared towards future educators and although we only had to choose a couple diary entries a week and reflect on them, i quickly became invested in all of their stories because they’re so easy to relate to, especially as a first gen student raised by immigrants hailing from a disenfranchised community (lots of violence, currently being gentrified). It does become repetitive rather quickly, but that just goes to show how similar all their struggles were despite coming from different walks of life. 

i lost my original copy on an airplane (along with my favorite bookmark 3) which was the 10 year anniversary edition and replaced it with the 20th anniversary edition and i wish i hadn’t done that. Erin Gruwell spent the bulk of their lessons focusing on intolerance, highlighting the holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia and in the 20th anniversary edition, the freedom writers speak about their opportunity to travel to Occupied Palestine and speak to students and teachers on both sides of the wall.

One entry reads: “If we can be in sync despite our differences, my hope is that by adding Israelis and Palestinians to our family, from both sides of a wall, that they, too, can see past their difference and receive this gift.” It left an extremely sour taste in my mouth that these people cannot compute that the difference in question is apartheid and genocide brought on by the israeli regime. Several diary entries also talked about how Palestine wasn’t what they expected as they expected bombs and to get shot at. So what the hell have these people learned over the last two decades as frEeDOm WRiTeRs if they still fall for racist propaganda in regard to Arabs? So much for fighting intolerance. 

Even now, they still refer to themselves as the “voices of the voiceless” but have not used any of their massive platforms to condemn the massive loss of civilian life in Palestine as well as the fact that Gazan children have been left without education for nine months and counting because of israel’s terrorism. Money talks and the freedom writers are nothing but sellout frauds. It’s not a movement anymore, it’s a brand. And while I’m sure they are doing some good in the world, the message of “changing the world” falls flat when your advocacy only extends to a finite group of people. 

The original diary entries were cathartic and powerful, and I do applaud Erin Gruwell for empowering her students, but if i’m being really honest, that’s what every educator is supposed to do and if they’re not doing that, they’re in the wrong field. She didn’t even continue teaching after the fact, more to my point of this whole thing becoming more of a brand than anything at this point. 

To the people saying that the diaries felt too polished to actually be written by the kids, obviously they were changed in the editing process. Most people would not have been able to connect with or maybe even understand what was likely their actual vernacular (i’m not most people, yall stay safe though) but that doesn’t make their stories any less valid and instead made it more accessible to the big ass audience they have now, which again, in my opinion they’re not using as well as they should.

Jude

i was assigned this book during the fall semester in a class geared towards future educators and although we only had to choose a couple diary entries a week and reflect on them, i quickly became invested in all of their stories because they’re so easy to relate to, especially as a first gen student raised by immigrants hailing from a disenfranchised community (lots of violence, currently being gentrified). It does become repetitive rather quickly, but that just goes to show how similar all their struggles were despite coming from different walks of life. 
i lost my original copy on an airplane (along with my favorite bookmark 3) which was the 10 year anniversary edition and replaced it with the 20th anniversary edition and i wish i hadn’t done that. Erin Gruwell spent the bulk of their lessons focusing on intolerance, highlighting the holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia and in the 20th anniversary edition, the freedom writers speak about their opportunity to travel to Occupied Palestine and speak to students and teachers on both sides of the wall.
One entry reads: “If we can be in sync despite our differences, my hope is that by adding Israelis and Palestinians to our family, from both sides of a wall, that they, too, can see past their difference and receive this gift.” It left an extremely sour taste in my mouth that these people cannot compute that the difference in question is apartheid and genocide brought on by the israeli regime. Several diary entries also talked about how Palestine wasn’t what they expected as they expected bombs and to get shot at. So what the hell have these people learned over the last two decades as frEeDOm WRiTeRs if they still fall for racist propaganda in regard to Arabs? So much for fighting intolerance. 
Even now, they still refer to themselves as the “voices of the voiceless” but have not used any of their massive platforms to condemn the massive loss of civilian life in Palestine as well as the fact that Gazan children have been left without education for nine months and counting because of israel’s terrorism. Money talks and the freedom writers are nothing but sellout frauds. It’s not a movement anymore, it’s a brand. And while I’m sure they are doing some good in the world, the message of “changing the world” falls flat when your advocacy only extends to a finite group of people. 
The original diary entries were cathartic and powerful, and I do applaud Erin Gruwell for empowering her students, but if i’m being really honest, that’s what every educator is supposed to do and if they’re not doing that, they’re in the wrong field. She didn’t even continue teaching after the fact, more to my point of this whole thing becoming more of a brand than anything at this point. 
To the people saying that the diaries felt too polished to actually be written by the kids, obviously they were changed in the editing process. Most people would not have been able to connect with or maybe even understand what was likely their actual vernacular (i’m not most people, yall stay safe though) but that doesn’t make their stories any less valid and instead made it more accessible to the big ass audience they have now, which again, in my opinion they’re not using as well as they should.

The Freedom Writers Diary How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them

Reviews